


Drunk and in Love

by Slytherin_Princess_Nysa



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 5 Things, All Aboard, Alternate Universe - Happy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babies, Baby Names, Crying, Drunkenness, Engagement, F/M, Family Fluff, GENDRYA ENDGAME., GRRM and I are captaining the gendrya ship, Gendry x Arya - Freeform, Gendrya - Freeform, Gift Fic, Idiots in Love, Love, Marriage, One Shot, Parent Arya, Parent Gendry, Slice of Life, Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, You will cry: from sadness or happiness?, because fuck david and dan, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-15 07:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20862809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherin_Princess_Nysa/pseuds/Slytherin_Princess_Nysa
Summary: Five moments of love, happiness and support in Arya and Gendry's life together





	Drunk and in Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [comicx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicx/gifts).

**1\. ** **“You’re lovely, but I’ve got a girlfriend.”**

Arya sat on the couch, a thick wool blanket wrapped over her shoulders and folded over her lap. Her brown hair was twisted into a messy ponytail on the crown of her head. She relaxed into the couch, tapping her fingers against the warm mug in her hands as she took a drink. She mindlessly flipped through the channels on tv. It was past midnight and she yawned.

She paused on some sort of a fantasy show, something about an iron throne and families with animal sigils. She sighed and changed the channel, settling on a rerun of Lord of the Rings. Arya sat happily, content with her night.

There was a noise outside the front door and Arya paused the movie, straining her ears to listen as a pair of keys scratched against the lock. She kicked her legs off the couch and stretched as she listened to the fumbling on the other side of the door.

Taking pity on whoever was on the other end, Arya opened the door to find Gendry sitting on the floor with a jumble of loose keys in his lap.

Arya dropped to her knees, “Baby? What’s going on?”

“I can’t-” he hiccuped loudly. “I can’t find my keys.”

“Well, you don’t need your keys. I’m home.” She pulled at his hands while Gendry tried to stuff as many of the keys into his trousers pockets. Distantly, Arya wondered where he had taken all those keys from and how many people would have to call the locksmith tonight.

Gendry was smashed. His bright blue eyes wide and unfocused, a deep flush colouring his cheeks and over his neck. Arya tugged him inside and closed the door while he dragged himself to the couch. He plopped down into the couch with a little sigh.

Arya sat next to him, rubbing circles over his back. He turned suddenly, staring at her intently for a moment before nodding to himself and pushing her hands away.

“Listen, you’re a nice girl.” he started. “You’re lovely.” he slurs, reaching over to pat her face clumsily and Arya blushed to the roots of her hair. "But I've got a girlfriend and I love her very much. She's a proper lady, all delicate and sweet." Then he laughs, deep in his throat. "That's not true. My Arry is wild."

“Arry, huh?” Arya questioned. “Sounds like a stupid name.”

He glared at her, blue eyes unfocused. “Her full name is Arya Stark, Waters soon. Arya Waters.” Gendry’s eyes lit up with joy and Arya tried to bite back a grin. “She’s marrying me,” he whispered conspiracally, his voice filled with awe.

“Is she now? I don’t believe you!”

Gendry nodded vigorously, looking at her with the most lovesick expression Arya had seen since their first date. “She is! Told me so and she’s wearing my great, great grandmum’s wedding ring on her pretty little hand.”

Arya looked down at her hand, the diamond glinting back at her. Great, great grandmother Alyss had been the first to wear the wedding ring, for over sixty years, before giving it to her son Oryss, his wife had worn it for forty years. Finally it was passed to Gendry’s father. Gendry’s mother had worn the ring for fifteen years before she passed, leaving Gendry the ring for whoever he chose to spend his life with.

Gendry told her that the ring was lucky, that every Waters woman who had worn it had lived a happy life and had a loving husband and children. Arya remembered Gendry’s mum, even though she had passed early in her life, Celeste Waters had been the happiest woman Arya had ever known. Up until the very end.

“Gendry?” Arya asked sweetly, trying to rouse his as he drifted off on the couch.

“Hmm?” Gendry sunk into the couch, whimpering when she yanked on his arm.

Arya stood over him, hands on her hips and an expression of disapproval on her face. “Let’s get you to bed, you big lug.”

“Oh no, you don’t! I won’t be seduced by a-” he gestured at her wildly. “A seductress!”

Arya glanced down at the oversized shirt she had stolen from him and the ratty pair of shorts peeking out from the hem. There was a ripped hole in her collar and an old tea stain on the left sleeve, staining the fabric. Not exactly what she would have pictured when thinking of a, as Gendry had called her, seductress.

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave you on the bed and sleep on the couch.” she didn’t want him to hurt his back again by trying to fit on the couch. It was big enough for her but for him it looked cartoonishly small.

“Oh, no, milady,” Gendry kicked off his shoes, landing both of them a good kick towards the door. He stretched out on the couch with a loud yawn, legs hanging off the end. “I would never take a bed away from a lady.”

“I’m not a lady and you’ll get a hunch in your back if you sleep on the couch again.” Arya jabbed his shoulder in a useless attempt to get him up, but he was too big and heavy. Not to mention, Gendry was already nodding off again.

Huffing, Arya pulled a blanket and extra pillows from the hallway closet and covered him, trying to be as gentle as possible when she dropped his head onto the pillow instead of the hard arm of their couch.

She clicked everything in the room off, leaving the only light streaming from the open bedroom door. Arya checked the front door and windows to make sure everything was locked, tiptoeing across the living room to not wake him. She leaned over to press a lingering kiss to his forehead before turning into the hall.

“I love you, Arry.” Gendry mumbled after her and Arya grinned.

Arya tucked herself into bed, staying on her side of the bed. Laying in bed Arya sighed, she didn’t like sleeping away from him. She hadn’t slept alone since they started dating when she was eighteen, ten years ago. The bed felt cold and too big without him in it.

* * *

**2\. "He’s going to die of alcohol poisoning if I don't find him something to soak it up with."**

Arya watched her new husband mingle between their guests, a champagne flute in her hand. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket, having thrown it over the back of his chair the moment they entered the banquet hall. His shirt sleeves were rolled up his arms and Arya grinned watching the little inked wolf on his forearm move with his muscles.

“When did he get that?” Robb asked, appearing behind her with a plate of appetizers balanced in one hand and Arya’s precious niece cradled in the other. Arya dropped the glass onto the table and reached for her niece.

“Last week,” Arya pushed the long strands of curly hair away from her collarbone, grateful that her vale had been abandoned along with her husbands jacket and tie. Her arms pulled the happy little girl into her arms, uncaring about wrinkling or ripping the lacy material Dany had helped her pick for her dress.

Rhaena looked up at her, wide violet eyes filled with childhood wonder. “Aunty?”

“Yes, darling?” Arya watched her brother as he stuffed a large piece of mushroom into his mouth, looking around the room for his wife.

The little girl glanced at her father, before leaning to whisper against Arya’s neck, “When can we eat the cake?”

Arya laughed and glanced at the large white cake on the other end of the room. Dany popped up behind her husband, letting Robb wrap his arm around her and press a kiss to her temple. Dany picked at the food on Robb’s plate. Arya looked between Rhaena, her maid of honour and brother.

“How about now?” she whispered mischievously and Rhaena’s face lit up. Her head swiveled towards the cake, her blonde braid whipping over her shoulder and the row of weaved in daisies filled Arya’s nose with the scent of wildflowers.

“Really?”

Spotting Gendry polishing off his glass, a sweet smile pulling at her lips as she watched her husband. The word making her insides feel warm and filled with butterflies.

“He’s going to die of alcohol poisoning if I don't find him something to soak it up with." Arya called towards Robb and Dany before she quietly slipped into the crowded without either of them could respond or taking notice of their disappearance. Arya tried her hardest to avoid being stopped by well-wishers and distant family at her own wedding. Cake and Rhaena were more important anyway.

Arya noticed Gendry laughing at something Arianne and Myrcella were saying, her bridesmaids leaning on each other happily. Rhaena and Arya passed the dance floor, dodging Jon and Theon before either of them could notice the girls.

Arya stopped at the table holding the cake, pulling the train of white fabric behind the table cloth. Letting Rhaena down, Arya pulled a spoon free from one of the silverware bundles surrounding the intricately decorated cake. She plucked one of the sugar roses from the bottom of the last layer, spooning out a large bite of chocolate cake.

Rhaena ate the spoonful of cake with the biggest, brightest grin Arya had ever seen. Arya took out another chunk of cake and held it out to her niece to devour.

“I think we’re supposed to be doing,” Arya spun on her heels, hiding the spoon behind her back and watching Rhaena wipe her chin with her hand.

Arya blinked up at her husband innocently, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Mhm,” Gendry hummed before reaching out with his hand, swiping some icing onto his finger and painting it over her lip, grinning wolfishly at her wide-eyed shock.

Snaking an arm around her waist, Gendry tugged her forward until he could bend down comfortably and plant a sugary sweet kiss on her lips. His tongue peeked out and licked the icing off, Arya scrunched up her nose with a laugh at his triumphant smile. Rhaena snuck behind her skirts and ran between the pairs of legs, disappearing into the crowd.

“Damn,” Gendry cursed, a fake look of disappointment on his face. “I lost one of the thieves. I guess I have to punish you twice as much.”

“That right?” Arya wrapped her arms around his neck, perfectly happy to stay in the warm circle of his arms for as long as they were both alive, longer still. “Mr Stark?”

“Absolutely, Mrs Waters.” he corrected with a nudge of his nose against hers.

“Oi! If you want to hide and snog back there at least do us the decency of letting the rest of us eat the cake.” Arianne’s voice called out from somewhere behind them and Arya mindlessly flipped her finger over her shoulder.

“I’ll compromise with Mrs Stark-Waters,” she held a finger to his lips when he opened his mouth to respond. “If you also change it to Stark-Waters. Deal?” she dropped her hand from his face and waited for a handshake.

“Seal it with a kiss instead?” his large hands already dipping her at the waist, letting her hem drape over her legs dramatically.

His lips sealed over hers and Arya felt tingles run over her arms and down her chest, a heated blush covering her face when he pulled away. Gendry’s forehead pressed against hers and Arya felt pure, unadulterated joy fill her.

Arya couldn’t remember a time when Gendry wasn’t in her life. They had met when Arya was five and Gendry was ten, she had been chasing after her brothers in the backyard, wanting to play with them when she had tripped and skinned her knees. Gendry had carried her into the kitchen and gave her a pack of frozen peas. She had started chasing after him after that.

At first it was to play footie and make him give her piggyback rides. Then it was because of her embarrassing school girl crush, the one that forced her to have an attitude and strike out in jealousy every time he so much as looked at another girl. The Christmas before she graduated high school, the two of them had gotten stuck under the mistletoe.

It hadn’t been her first kiss but it had been the first one to ever matter. Every kiss and every touch since was Arya’s new favourite moment.

A resounding clap and cheers surrounded them and Arya looked up at the flashes of cameras and the faces of her loved ones. With Gendry. And she never wanted it to end.

* * *

**3\. "We? And a?"**

Arya was chewing her lip nervously, sitting on their bed with a little bottle clutched tightly in her hand. It had been eating at her all day. Dany and Arianne had been texting her all week, asking why she had been acting strange and cancelling their lunch date every day. Arya stared at her phone, clutched in her hand and the missed calls notification blinking up at her.

She didn’t mean to keep them in the dark about what was going on with her. She just didn’t know how to tell them that her whole life was about to change, and Gendry’s. It had always been the two of them. No other boys interested her and no other girls turned Gendry’s head the way she did. And now that would change.

It couldn’t just be Gendry and Arya, the inseparable childhood sweethearts anymore.

Arya swept hair out of her eyes, shaking her leg in impatience and nervousness. A part of her wanted Gendry to come home already so she could talk to him and another part wondered how much longer she could keep it from him before she had to tell him.

She heard the front door open and close, and her breath caught. His feet pounded up the stairs and Arya whipped her hands on her pajama shorts before he rounded the corner and stopped at the door of their bedroom.

“Hey, love,” he tugged his jacket off and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. “What are you doing home so early? I thought you had a dentists appointment until six.”

Gendry disappeared into the walk-in closet and Arya heard him changing from his work clothes into whatever comfortable pair of sweatpants he grabbed. “Gendry?” she asked softly.

“And then Beric goes on this rampage-” Gendry came out, shrugging on his shirt as he continued talking about his day. His words going in through one of her ears and out the other.

Arya shot up, leaving the bottle behind on the bed and hysterically grabbing his arms to stop him from moving. “Gendry! I lied to you!”

“What?” his face fell and he tossed his shirt on the bed behind her. Arya had never lied to him. Not about anything. Until today. “Why would you do that?” and she could hear the betrayal and defeat in his voice.

“I didn’t go to the dentist.” Arya whispered and she watched his brows furrowed in confusion. “We’ve been married for three years and it’s been the best three years of my life. Every moment with you has been a gift and I’ve loved all of our time together like this.”

“Arya,” his voice cracked and his hands reached out for her. Those blue eyes she loved more than anything filled with tears. “If I’ve done something to make you think I don’t love you more than everything in this world. If something is making you unhappy. The house or me,” he swallowed back. “If I’m making you unhappy-”

“No, no,” she shook her head violently. “You make me happier than anything in the world and I know you love me more than anything. But I think we’ll need to change that.”

“Change?” he formed the words slowly. “What kind of change?”

Arya pulled him to the bed, pushing him to sit down. She sat next to him, trying to smile comfortingly but soon her insides had turned wild and she had to stand back up. Even standing, he was taller than her. She wondered if his height, something she always found attractive in him, would come back to curse her now.

“I can’t give you all my love in the world anymore,” she took a deep breath. “We’ll have to share our love with someone else.” She could see his hands shaking and she reached out to gently pull his hand towards her stomach, placing it over the small bump there. “A sweet, little baby boy or girl…” she trailed away.

He stared at his large hand, spanning the entire width of her stomach. Wonderfully blue eyes staring as his fingers pressed lightly to feel the growing child there. His head snapped up towards her and the most beautiful smile spread over his face, all gleaming white teeth.

"We? And a?" he gasped and Arya nodded. Gendry's eyes filled with tears.

“A baby.” Arya knew he wanted a family, a big one, with a dozen little angels running between their feet and climbing over him.

But a part of her had always been scared that she couldn’t give that to him and although Gendry never said it, Arya knew a sliver of that fear sat buried in his heart as well. She had been in an accident when she was fourteen and the doctors had said she might never be able to carry a baby past the first few weeks.

It’s why she hadn’t wanted to say anything, the deep fear that if she told him and then they lost it, he would be heartbroken.

“How long have you known?” he asked, wonder clear in his voice.

“I suspected for the last two months but I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong.” Arya finally let him pull her snuggly into his lap. “I went to the doctor today and he confirmed it. There’s a stubborn little Waters baby in my belly.”

His hand hadn’t left her stomach and Gendry buried his face in the crook of her neck. “Baby Waters,” he mused, fingers rubbing over the skin. “Boy or girl, do you think?”

“A girl.” They both pretended not to see the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. Her thumb touched his chin, sliding smoothly up his jaw and stopping below his eye. “With big blue eyes like her daddy.”

“And her mum’s fiery attitude.” he added.

Arya shook her head vehemently. “I’m having our baby, not trying to curse you.”

Gendry looked thoughtful for a moment before turning serious, “You’re right, one of you is too much to handle already.”

“Hey!” Arya reached over and wacked his shoulder hard. “I’m a treasure.”

“You’re certainly something,” he muttered loud enough for her to hear and hit him again. “And I love you all the more for it.”

“That’s better.”

Gendry left her at the top of bed when he left to check the doors and get her some saltines to put on her nightstand. While she waited, Arya rested her hand on her stomach. It had become a reflex by now, holding tightly to the little life inside her.

When he came back, Arya was already settled under the blankets, lost in thought. Gendry flipped the light off and slipped under the blankets. His arms reached out for her and Arya snuggled close to him, sighing into his chest. She felt his chest move with his breath and the steady beat of his heart.

“Are you okay?” he asked, fingers practicing letters over her back.

“When we got married, I felt like you had given up a part of your dream.” Gendry made a sound of confusion in his throat. “Kids. And I thought you would come to resent me for it one day. When Rhaena wasn’t our only niece and there were a dozen other Stark and Waters kids running around and none of them were ours.”

“Arya,” his hand had frozen on her back. “I always wanted kids, you know that, but thinking you couldn’t give me any wasn’t going to make me stop loving you. We could have adopted or had a surrogate. I love you and this little miracle.” his hand pressed against her stomach and Arya choked back a sob. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s the hormones!” she cried. “All I keep thinking about is how happy I was and how I couldn’t imagine our life getting better and now we’re pregnant and bringing another life into ours. I love you so much.”

“I love you more, my darling.” Gendry pressed sweet kisses into her hair and Arya muffled her cries into his shoulder. “My Arya.”

He hushed her and Arya lifted her head to look into his eyes. She remembered the first time she fell in love with his eyes. She had been ten and Gendry had gotten into a fist fight. Robb and Jon had been dragged away by her parents to explain when Joffrey had done this time and Arya had been left in the kitchen, holding an ice pack on his cheek. He’d smiled at her and thanked her, Arya remembered blushing and throwing the ice pack at him and calling him stupid.

“I couldn’t imagine doing any of this without you.” she brushed her lips against his. Tasting the salt from her tears and the sweetness still lingering from his afternoon coffee.

“And you’ll never have to.”

His tongue traced her bottom lip gently, pushing past them and into her mouth. Gendry rolled her onto her back and used his arms to hold himself above her, careful to not put his weight on her. Her fingers dug into his hair, relishing the softness of his growing locks. She growled into his mouth, sounding more like a wolf than his wife and Gendry rubbed his fingers into her scalp.

“Need something, my love?”

“If you don’t start taking clothes off, I’m going to start crying.” she threatened.

Gendry recklessly kicked his sweatpants off and Arya laughed when one pant leg caught his foot and he rolled off the bed with an unmanly squeal. Arya couldn’t catch her breath and she wondered, would their forever always be this happy?

* * *

**4\. **"I can't. Arya, I can't do this."****

Arya woke up in the middle of the night, her chest twisting from the rude awakening and the leftover pain vibrating through her body. She flipped the night lamp on and glared at her sleeping husband when she spotted the earbuds buried in his ears.

He turned onto his back and pulled the buds out, looking at he pleadingly. "I can't. Arya, I can't do this." Arya's heart sunk and she knew it would be up to her.

“Fine, but you’d better hand me those,” she pointed at the discarded buds. “When I come back because it’s your turn next.”

She kicked the covers away and rose on shaky legs, neither of them had been getting any sleep for the past eight months. She followed the unholy screeches into the nursery, a lovely and deceiving shade of bubblegum pink. Arya noticed the tossed stuffed animals on the floor next to the crib, probably having been tossed over the side by their daughters olympic arm toss.

Hopping over the apparently inadequate toys, Arya popped her head over the side to look at the red face of her baby as the child screamed bloody murder. Distantly, Arya wondered how the neighbours hadn’t called the police yet. They had the patience and acceptance of gods, as far as Arya was concerned.

“Hello, sweetling,” Alys’ screams muted and she turned her big, blue eyes towards her mother in consideration. After a second she held up her chubby arms in a, blessedly, silent request to be held by her mother.

“Mama. Up.” Alys commanded in her little voice.

“Whatever you want, just please stop crying,” Arya pulled the calming baby into her arms, taking care with her fuzzy little head, and settled her onto her hip. She yanked the blanket from the mattress and wrapped it around Alys’ yellow onesie.

Alys relaxed against her shoulder and Arya watched her sucking her thumb, well, her whole fist, into her mouth. “Papa?”

“Let’s go see papa,” Arya watched Alys’ eyes widen and she clapped her slobbered hands together in excitement at the thought of seeings her dad.

Arya would be jealous if she didn’t know that Gendry brought out the same reaction in her. He had both of them wrapped around his finger and he didn’t even know it. They walked carefully through the hallway and back into the main bedroom.

“Did you get her down?” Gendry asked groggily, eyes still shut and face buried into his pillow as he tried to fall back asleep now that their daughter wasn’t trying to tear a hole in the void with her screams alone.

Alys wiggled out of Arya’s arms and crawled as quickly as possible, pounding on Gendry’s back with her little fists. “Papa!”

His eyes snapped open and he pulled her into his arms, cooing at the little girl with the softest smile Arya could remember seeing on his face. “Hello, little angel.”

Rolling her eyes, Arya toed off her slippers and slid underneath the covers, leaving Alys between her parents. “She’s sleeping in here tonight. She doesn’t like her room and I can’t deal with another,” she glanced at the clock, “3a.m. wake up this week.”

“Okay,” he replied absentmindedly and continued to make weird faces to make Alys laugh and tickle her baby belly.

“And then I thought about telling you that I adopted six other children.” Gendry swatted her and Arya caught his clumsy hand, kissing his knuckles. He pulled her towards them and Arya curled up on Alys’ other side.

She tugged the blanket up the three of them and they watched Alys’ eyes shutter closed and her twitching feet go still. Arya breathed a sigh of relief and Gendry kept his hand on their daughter’s belly, keeping her warm with the sheer size and weight of his hand.

“I love her more than anything else,” Arya whispered to him. “Including you.”

“I would take it as an insult but I truly understand why.” Arya lowered her head into her pillow, watching the steady breaths their baby took.

It hadn’t been easy. Having her.

The pregnancy had been a nightmare. She’d been sick all throughout, from light days where she felt like throwing up or felt dizzy to the harsh days of high fevers and constant vomiting. On the rare cruel day, Arya had even woken up with her thighs covered in blood and intense stomach pains. Those had been the worst, when they would think they had lost their baby and would drive to the hospital in a blind panic.

The labour was hours long and the doctors hadn’t only almost just lost Alys but Arya too. When Arya had woken in the hospital room, two days later, with a bitter taste in her mouth and a sobbing Gendry, she had assumed the worst.

Then Alys had been brought to her, waddled up in a bright purple blanket. A sweet little thing with a tuft of black hair and wondrous blue eyes, just like her father. But with the smallest arms and toes and fingers, just like her mother.

“She’s the most beautiful thing,” Gendry had said to her, sniffing back another wave of tears as he watched his wife meet their daughter.

“She was worth all of it.” Arya nodded, suddenly all the pain was a distant memory and she didn’t care for it. “Welcome to the world, Alys. It’s very boring, you’ll hate it.”

“Alys,” Gendry cupped the little girls head in his hand and Arya almost laughed at how comically small their baby’s head was in comparison. “She’ll be our one and only.”

Arya hadn’t known if he had meant because she had lost the ability to have any more ot if he refused to risked losing her to another attempt but she was okay with it. Aly was perfect. “She’s good enough for me.”

“Aye, love.” Gendry had kissed her forehead. “Me too.”

All she remembered for the rest of that day was how Gendry had squeezed into her small hospital bed, after the nurse checked on Alys and Arya, and held his two favourite girls like they were made of porcelain. Like he couldn’t live without them.

* * *

**5\. "Happy birthday to you!"**

Arya carried out a tray of fresh vegetables from the kitchen, she hopped over Rhaena and little Ned while they ran around the backyard. Alys sat in her father's lap, hugging a doll to her chest with the death grip of a five year old.

Alys’ eyes widen and she holds out her arms, “Mummy!”

Arya dropped the tray in front of Dany and pulled her daughter from her father's arms and into her own. Peppering kisses over Alys’ laughing face. “How is my big girl?”

Alys’ mouth turned in a frown, and she crossed her arms unhappily. “I don’t wanna be a big girl, I like being your baby.”

Gendry laughed, deep in his throat as he stood from his chair, placing his large hand on their daughters back. “You’ll always be our baby.”

Alys looked between her parents with a serious look in her eyes. “Promise?”

“We promise,” Arya straightened out the hem of her shirt. “You’ll be thirty or forty or ninety and I’ll still treat you as my baby girl.”

“Good!”

“Aunty?” Rhaena tugged on Arya’s shirt. “Is it time for cake?” she asked sheepishly.

“Cake?!” Alys’ eyes practically popped out of her head and she turned viciously in Arya’s arms, looking around her aunts and uncles and grandparents, searching for whoever was hiding her cake. “Mummy, there’s cake?”

Alys had developed a sweet tooth much like her father, making him grin whenever she stuffed her face with anything sugary. No matter how much Arya told him it wasn’t good for a growing child to eat too much sugar, he cracked and Arya found Alys eating chocolate covered popcorn in the kitchen.

When Arya didn’t answer, Alys whipped towards her father. “Daddy?”

“After you eat your vegetables,” Arya said with a serious tone. She hefted the pouting child on her hip and pointed at her husband. “That goes for you too.”

“Rubbish,” he grumbled under his breath and Alys looked just as heartbroken at being kept away from the sugary confection Dany had helped her make.

She sat with Alys in her lap and Gendry pulled the meat patties off the grill and placed them in the middle of the table. Jon reached over Robb for the largest steak and Robb smacked his hand away, stabbing his own fork into the steak.

“Mummy,” Alys started. “Can I trade my peas for carrots?”

Gendry was already spooning her peas into his own plate and moving his carrots towards her. Arya rolled her eyes and watched Alys munch soundly on one of her carrots. Gendry leaned over Alys’ head and pressed a kiss to Arya’s lips, leaving her smiling.

Arianne came out of the kitchen halfway through dinner, a tall chocolate cake in her hands. Alys clapped excitedly and Arya joined the rest of their singing family.

"Happy birthday to you!" Gendry sang, throwing Alys over his shoulder.

Arya stood up with them and watched Gendry swipe his finger over the icing, smearing it over their baby girl’s face. Alys reached greedily to grab a handful of cake from the side and Arya watched her mother snap pictures.

Her hair whipped over her face and she knocked it away, a strand of gray catching her eye. She twirled it around her finger.

She hadn’t noticed the time passing. The years since she met Gendry, since their first kiss and their first dance. Since the announcement of her pregnancy and the birth of their daughter. Not for the first time, Arya wondered how she had gotten so lucky in life. She snorted softly, maybe in another life she had suffered great misfortune and ended up dying out at sea alone and this was the world’s way of righting fate.

Gendry waved her over to help blow out Alys’ five pink, polka dotted candles. Together, the three of them leaned over and in one fell swoop, blew out the small flames. Their family clapped and Arya ran her fingers through Alys’ hair, enjoying the feeling of Gendry wrapping his arms around the two of them. Holding them close.

“I love you, beautiful” he whispered against her head. “None of it would be worth anything if you weren’t with me.”

“I love you,” she answered, just as softly. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, other than with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to lie to you, this was going to end really depressingly. Actually I did a poll on Instagram and it had overwhelming results FOR a depressing ending. But I'm in unnaturally good mood recently since I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so instead I made this tooth-decay sweet. Hope you enjoyed and check out my other stories!


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